Cytokine profiles and virological markers highlight distinctive immune statuses, and effectivenesses and limitations of NAs across different courses of chronic HBV infection.

PURPOSE: The characteristics of cytokine/chemokine(CK) profiles across different courses of chronic hepatitis B virus infection and the effects of NAs antiviral therapy on cytokine profiles remain unclear. METHODS: This report provides evidence from 383 patients with chronic HBV infection. The Luminex multiple cytokine detection technology was used to detect CK profiles. The predictive power of CKs across course of disease was assessedusing univariate analyses and with receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curves. RESULTS: Compared to healthy control (HC), expression levels of interleukin 6 (IL)-6, IL-8, IL-21, matrix metalloproteinases (MMP)-2 and tumor necrosis factor receptor (TNFR)-1 showed a significant increasing trend during chronic HBV infection. IL-23 and IL-33 increased respectively in chronic hepatitis B patients (CHB). interferon (IFN)-gamma and TNF-α changed significantly only in liver cirrhosis (LC) patients. Whereas, myeloid-related markers decreased dramatically in those with hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). The ROC result suggests that combining IL-6, IL-8, CXCL9 and CXCL13 into a nomogram has closely correlation with HCC during chronic HBV infection. In addition, nucleotide analogues (NAs) antiviral treatments are capable of recoveringnormal liver functions and significantly reducing the viral loads, however, they seem to have a limited effect in changing CKs, especially specific antiviral factors. CONCLUSION: The differential CK and virological markers may serve as potential indicators of distinct immune statuses in chronic HBV infection. They also underscore the varying efficacy and limitations of NAs antiviral therapies. This next step would to break new ground in the optimization of current anti-HBV treatment programs although this requires further research.

Quadrupolar charge dynamics in the nonmagnetic FeSe1-x S x superconductors.

We use polarization-resolved electronic Raman spectroscopy to study quadrupolar charge dynamics in a nonmagnetic [Formula: see text] superconductor. We observe two types of long-wavelength [Formula: see text] symmetry excitations: 1) a low-energy quasi-elastic scattering peak (QEP) and 2) a broad electronic continuum with a maximum at 55 meV. Below the tetragonal-to-orthorhombic structural transition at [Formula: see text], a pseudogap suppression with temperature dependence reminiscent of the nematic order parameter develops in the [Formula: see text] symmetry spectra of the electronic excitation continuum. The QEP exhibits critical enhancement upon cooling toward [Formula: see text] The intensity of the QEP grows with increasing sulfur concentration x and maximizes near critical concentration [Formula: see text], while the pseudogap size decreases with the suppression of [Formula: see text] We interpret the development of the pseudogap in the quadrupole scattering channel as a manifestation of transition from the non-Fermi liquid regime, dominated by strong Pomeranchuk-like fluctuations giving rise to intense electronic continuum of excitations in the fourfold symmetric high-temperature phase, to the Fermi liquid regime in the broken-symmetry nematic phase where the quadrupole fluctuations are suppressed.

Microvolumetric determination of thrombomodulin based on competitive immunoreaction using a portable glucometer.

A new method of reducing the amount of reagent and sample for determination of thrombomodulin (TM) was developed based on competitive immunoreaction using a portable glucometer (PGM). Two types of nanocomposites, TM protein-modified magnetic nanoparticles (MNPs-TM) and TM antibody-/glucose oxidase-modified gold nanoparticles (Ab-GNPs-GOx), were prepared. Their binding product, MNPs-TM-Ab-GNPs-GOx, in the microvolumetric solution was used to catalyze the oxidation of glucose, leading to a decline of the glucose content. The TM-involved competitive immunoreaction had a negative effect on the generation of MNPs-/GNPs-based nanocomposites and inhibited the catalytic oxidation of glucose. The glucose content difference in the microvolumetric solution, which was revealed by a PGM, was in proportion to the logarithm of the TM concentration from 25 ng mL-1 to 2.5 µg mL-1. The limit of detection was 5.7 ng mL-1. Microvolumetric solution and a PGM were used in the measurement, which overcame some deficiencies of classical methods in chemo/biosensing, for example, special instrument, complicated measurement procedure, and high cost.

Nickel-Catalyzed Cross-Redistribution between Hydrosilanes and Silacyclobutanes.

Silanes are important in chemistry and material science. The self-redistribution of HSiCl3 is an industrial process to prepare SiH4 , which is widely used in electronics and automobile industries. However, selective silane cross-redistribution to prepare advanced silanes is challenging. We now report an enthalpy-driven silane cross-redistribution to access bis-silanes that contain two different types of Si-H bonds in the same molecule. Compared with entropy-driven reactions, the enthalpy-driven reaction shows high regioselectivity, broad substrate scope (62 examples) and high atom economy. Our combined experimental and computational study indicates that the reaction proceeds through a Ni0 -NiII -NiIV catalytic cycle.

Cloning and expression of circular transcript of mouse growth hormone receptor gene.

Based on reports in the literature and search results on the circBase database, 8 circular transcripts of the mouse growth hormone receptor (GHR) gene were identified. In order to confirm the existence of the circular transcripts of the GHR gene (circGHRs) and to explore their expression patterns, the Kunming mouse (Mus musculus) was used as a research animal. This study detected the existence of circGHRs by RT-PCR amplification and sequencing, one of which was selected as circGHR for detailed analysis. The circular structure of circGHR was confirmed by RNase R treatment and reverse transcription. The spatiotemporal expression of circGHR and GHR mRNA was analyzed by qRT-PCR. The results showed that the full length of mouse circGHR was 820 nt, which was formed by circularization of exons 2-8 of the transcript of the GHR gene. RNase R tolerance analysis shows that mouse circGHR has the general characteristics of circular molecules and is not easily degraded by RNase R. Compared with oligo-d(T)18 primers, random primers have higher reverse transcription efficiency for circGHR, which further shows that circGHR is a poly(A)-free cyclic structure molecule. Tissue expression profile results show that circGHR is highly expressed in the liver and kidney of 1 week-old and 7-week old Kunming mice, but is low in pectoral muscles and leg muscles. The time-series expression profile of circGHR does not show any significant difference between the liver and pectoral muscle tissue. The circGHR expression in the leg muscle was low before 5 weeks of age but increased after 7 weeks of age. This study confirmed the existence of a circular transcript circGHR of the mouse GHR gene, and initially revealed the expression pattern of circGHR. The results of the study laid a foundation for in-depth developmental studies on the biological functions of the mouse circGHR and its mechanism of action regarding the growth and development of mice.

INDEL variation in the regulatory region of the major flowering time gene LanFTc1 is associated with vernalization response and flowering time in narrow-leafed lupin (Lupinus angustifolius L.).

Narrow-leafed lupin (Lupinus angustifolius L.) cultivation was transformed by 2 dominant vernalization-insensitive, early flowering time loci known as Ku and Julius (Jul), which allowed expansion into shorter season environments. However, reliance on these loci has limited genetic and phenotypic diversity for environmental adaptation in cultivated lupin. We recently predicted that a 1,423-bp deletion in the cis-regulatory region of LanFTc1, a FLOWERING LOCUS T (FT) homologue, derepressed expression of LanFTc1 and was the underlying cause of the Ku phenotype. Here, we surveyed diverse germplasm for LanFTc1 cis-regulatory variation and identified 2 further deletions of 1,208 and 5,162 bp in the 5' regulatory region, which overlap the 1,423-bp deletion. Additionally, we confirmed that no other polymorphisms were perfectly associated with vernalization responsiveness. Phenotyping and gene expression analyses revealed that Jul accessions possessed the 5,162-bp deletion and that the Jul and Ku deletions were equally capable of removing vernalization requirement and up-regulating gene expression. The 1,208-bp deletion was associated with intermediate phenology, vernalization responsiveness, and gene expression and therefore may be useful for expanding agronomic adaptation of lupin. This insertion/deletion series may also help resolve how the vernalization response is mediated at the molecular level in legumes.

Epidemic pattern of hand-foot-and-mouth disease in Xi'an, China from 2008 through 2015.

BACKGROUND: Hand, foot and mouth disease (HFMD) is an infectious disease caused by enteroviruses that has a severely impair for those high incidence countries such as China.The current study aimed to investigate the epidemic pattern of HFMD by time and region in Northwestern China. METHODS: All reported HFMD cases from 2008 to 2015 were collected from local Disease Control and Prevention.The HFMD was diagnosed in accordance with the guidebook provided by the National Health and Family Planning Commission of the People's Republic of China. RESULTS: A total of 154,869 cases of probable HFMD were reported. The overall incidence of HFMD has been increased from 91.68 per 100/000 in 2008 to 335.64 per 100/000 in 2015.The case mortality is decreased from 0.014 per100/000 to 0.011 per 100/000 during the time period. Most HFMD (93.82%) occurred in children younger than 5 years. The seasonal peak of HFMD infections occurred in April-July and September-November and Central regions of Xi'an city were the major locations of the clusters (incidence rate 245.75/100,000; relative risk 1.19, P < 0.01). EVA71 was the predominant enterovirus serotype, accounting for 50.0% of all reported HFMD cases since 2011.The most susceptible group infected by HFMD was children younger than 5 years, especially boys. CONCLUSIONS: Incidence of HFMD has been increasing in the past few years, however, the case fatality is decreasing. Season and region shall be considered as influence factors in the prevention of HFMD.

Effectiveness and Safety of Combination Therapy of Transarterial Chemoembolization and Apatinib for Unresectable Hepatocellular Carcinoma in the Chinese Population: A Meta-Analysis.

BACKGROUND: The combination of transarterial chemoembolization (TACE) and apatinib has been used in the treatment of intermediate or advanced hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). However, its effectiveness and safety are also argued. METHODS: Eligible studies were collected from a computer search of literatures published from the database establishment to May 2019 in PubMed, Web of Science, EMBASE, Ovid, the Cochrane Library, Wanfang Database, China National Knowledge Infrastructure, and China Biology Medicine Disc. The objective response rate (ORR), the disease control rate (DCR), survival rate (SR), and the incidences of treatment-related adverse effects (AEs) were collected as the relevant outcomes. Data were analyzed through fixed/random effects of meta-analysis models with RevMan 5.3 software. RESULTS: Eight randomized controlled clinical trials comprising 528 patients and 4 cohort studies comprising 226 patients were eventually included. Compared to the control group treated with TACE solely, combination therapy group, in which intermediate or advanced HCC patients were treated with TACE and apatinib, significantly enhanced ORR (relative risk [RR] 2.06, 95% CI 1.63-2.61, p < 0.001), DCR (RR 1.65, 95% CI 1.24-2.20, p < 0.001), and whole SRs of 6-month (RR 1.52, 95% CI 1.08-2.14, p = 0.02), 1-year (RR 1.52, 95% CI 1.25-1.84, p < 0.001), and 2-year (RR 1.84, 95% CI 1.34-2.54, p < 0.001). The incidence of hand foot syndrome, proteinuria, hypertension, and diarrhea was significantly increased in the combination therapy group compared with the control group (p < 0.05), and the incidence of nausea and vomiting, fever, and myelosuppression, respectively, was similar in 2 groups (p > 0.05). CONCLUSIONS: The combination therapy of TACE and apatinib can enhance the clinical effectiveness better than TACE solely in patients with intermediate or advanced HCC, while increase in the AEs is usually tolerable.

Effects of vitamin C supplementation on blood pressure and hypertension control in response to ambient temperature changes in patients with essential hypertension.

Evidence for blood pressure-lowering effects of vitamin C (VC) supplementation in clinical trials is inconsistent and limited studies have examined the effect of VC supplementation on hypertension (HTN) control. In this study, eligible patients were cluster assigned to receive 300 mg VC per day or nothing for 6 months. During the 6-month follow-up period, a questionnaire survey was obtained and standardized blood pressure measurements were performed on all subjects. Oral administration of VC significantly decreased the diastolic blood pressure and pulse pressure with a significant increase in HTN control. After adjusting for confounding variables, treatment with VC was associated with ~ 0.5 risk reduction of uncontrolled HTN in subjects received anti-hypertensive medications, whereas lower indoor and outdoor and ground temperature were significantly associated with an increased risk of uncontrolled HTN in all patients. Our results warrant further studies investigating the mechanisms underlying the association between VC and HTN control.

The Trace Detection of Nitrite Ions Using Neutral Red Functionalized SH-ß-Cyclodextrin @Au Nanoparticles.

A novel fluorescence sensor of NR-ß-CD@AuNPs was prepared for the trace detection of nitrite in quantities as low as 4.25 × 10-3 µg∙mL-1 in an aqueous medium. The fluorescence was due to the host-guest inclusion complexes between neutral red (NR) molecules and gold nanoparticles (AuNPs), which were modified by per-6-mercapto-beta-cyclodextrins (SH-ß-CDs) as both a reducing agent and a stabilizer under microwave radiation. The color of the NR-ß-CD@AuNPs changed in the presence of nitrite ions. A sensor was applied to the determination of trace nitrites in environmental water samples with satisfactory results.

Effect of 48-week pegylated interferon α-2a or nucleos(t)ide analogue therapy on renal function in Chinese patients with chronic hepatitis B.

BACKGROUND: Controversy remains as to whether antiviral agents contribute to renal dysfunction in patients with chronic hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection. Thus, the aim of study was to analyze the changes in renal function of chronic hepatitis B (CHB) patients in response to anti-HBV therapy and the association with treatments. METHOD: We performed a retrospective observational cohort study to investigate factors associated with renal function in 249 Chinese CHB patients who were treated with pegylated interferon α-2a (PEG-IFN-α-2a) or nucleos(t)ide analogues for 48 weeks. Changes of estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR), which was computed with both the Chronic Kidney Disease Epidemiology Collaboration and the Modification of Diet in Renal Disease formulas, were tested by repeated measures One-way analysis of variance within groups. A linear mixed effects model for repeated measures was also used to evaluate the association between baseline information and eGFR changes over time in all enrolled patients. The model considered the baseline age, sex, HBV DNA, aminotransferase, blood urea nitrogen, treatment group, time, and group-by-time interaction as fixed effects and incorporated random effects for individual subjects. RESULTS: The eGFR increased in patients given PEG-IFN-α-2a, decreased in patients given adefovir, but remained stable in patients given entecavir. Age and blood urea nitrogen were significant negative predictive factors for eGFR changes. CONCLUSION: In real-life study, PEG-IFN-α-2a therapy in CHB patients increased eGFR, thus may associate with renoprotective effects when compared with adefovir or entecavir therapies.

A description of the hepatitis B virus genomic background in a high-prevalence area in China.

BACKGROUND: Hepatitis B (HB) is an important disease worldwide. Almost 350 million people are positive for Hepatitis B virus surface antigen (HBsAg), and one-third of them live in China. According to a nation-wide serosurvey in China in 2006, the prevalence of HBsAg was higher in Northwest China than in other areas. However, the epidemic HBV strains in this area are poorly studied. RESULTS: In this study, 242 complete hepatitis B virus (HBV) genome sequences were obtained from HBV asymptomatic carriers in major cities of Northwest China. The 242 HBV sequences clustered into genotypes B, C and D. Through comparison of the genotype consensus sequences, 158 genotype-dependent positions were observed in P, S and X ORFs. Clinically relevant mutation screening in this study revealed that no HBV antiviral drug resistance mutations were observed and the vaccination failure mutations were heavily underrepresented. CONCLUSIONS: The role of genotype D strains in HBV prevalence should not be ignored in Northwest China. Due to low prevalence of vaccination failure mutations, it can be inferred that the genotype B, C and D strains in Northwest China may have less likelihood of vaccine escape.

[Preparation of magnetic carbon nitride composite toward phosphopeptide enrichment].

Protein phosphorylation plays an important role in cellular signaling and disease development. Advances in mass spectrometry-based proteomics have enabled qualitative and quantitative phosphorylation studies as well as in-depth biological explorations for biomarker discovery and signaling pathway analysis. However, the dynamic changes that occur during phosphorylation and the low abundance of target analytes render direct analysis difficult because mass spectral detection offers no selectivity, unlike immunoassays such as Western blot and enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). The present study aimed to solve one of the key problems in the specific and efficient isolation of phosphorylated peptides. A method based on a magnetic carbon nitride composite coupled with matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization time-of-flight mass spectrometry (MALDI-TOF-MS) was developed for the enrichment and analysis of phosphopeptides with low abundance in complex samples. Magnetic carbon nitride composite was synthesized and characterized by electron microscopy, infrared spectroscopy, and X-ray diffractometry. The composite showed a well-distributed two-dimensional layered structure and functional groups with excellent paramagnetic performance. Two classical phosphoproteins, namely, α- and ß-caseins, were selected as model phosphorylated samples to assess the performance of the proposed enrichment technique. The magnetic carbon nitride composite exhibited high selectivity and sensitivity for phosphopeptide enrichment. The limit of detection was determined by MALDI-TOF-MS analysis to be 0.1 fmol. The selectivity of the method was investigated using the digest mixtures of α-casein, ß-casein, and bovine serum albumin (BSA) with different mass ratios (1∶1∶1000, 1∶1∶2000, and 1∶1∶5000). Direct analysis of the samples revealed the dominance of spectral signals from the abundant peptides in BSA. After enrichment with the magnetic carbon nitride composite, the high concentration of background proteins was washed away and only the signals of the phosphopeptides were captured. The signals from the casein proteins were clearly observed with little background noise, indicating the high selectivity of the composite material. The robustness of the method was tested by assessing the reusability of the same batch of magnetic carbon nitride materials over 20 cycles of enrichment. The composite showed nearly the same enrichment ability even after several cycles of reuse, demonstrating its potential applicability for a large number of clinical samples. Finally, the method was applied to the analysis of phosphopeptides from several commonly used phosphoprotein-containing samples, including skimmed milk digest, human serum, and human saliva; these samples are significant in the analysis of food quality, disease biomarkers, and liquid biopsies for cancer. Without enrichment, no phosphopeptide was detected because of the high abundance of nonphosphopeptide materials dominating the spectral signals obtained. After pretreatment with the developed magnetic carbon nitride composite, most of the phosphosites were identified with high selectivity and sensitivity via MALDI-TOF-MS. These results revealed the practicality of the developed approach for clinical applications. In addition, our method may potentially be employed for phosphoproteomics with real complex biological samples.

Oxygen vacancies enhanced electrocatalytic water splitting of P-FeMoO4 initiated via phosphorus doping.

Transition metal oxides (TMOs) are abundant and cost-effective materials. However, poor conductivity and low intrinsic activity limit their application in electrolyzed water catalysts. Herein, we prepared P-FeMoO4 in situ on nickel foam (P-FMO@NF) by phosphorylation-modified FeMoO4 to optimize its electrocatalytic properties. Interestingly, phosphorus doping is accompanied by the generation of oxygen vacancies and surface phosphates. Oxygen vacancies accelerated Mo dissolution during the oxygen evolution reaction (OER), leading to the rapid reconfiguration of P-FMO@NF to FeOOH and regulating the electronic structure of P-FMO@NF. The formation of phosphates is caused by the substitution of some molybdates with phosphates, which further increases the amount of oxygen vacancies. Hence, the OER overpotential of P-FMO@NF at a current density of 10 mA cm-2 is only 206 mV, and the hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) overpotential is 154 mV. It was assembled into a water splitting cell with a voltage of just 1.59 V at 10 mA cm-2 and shows excellent stability over 50 h. These excellent electrocatalytic properties are mainly attributed to the oxygen vacancies, which improve the interfacial charge transfer properties of the catalysts. This study provides new insights into phosphorus doping and offers a new perspective on the design of electrocatalysts.

Archipelago-like oxygen-vacancies-enriched amorphous-crystalline heterointerface for enhanced water splitting.

Advancing the development of proficient bifunctional water splitting electrocatalysts and deciphering the underlying drivers of their performance are pivotal for accelerating the sustainable hydrogen energy sector. In this study, a novel Fe and P dual-doped cobalt molybdate electrocatalyst (P-FCMO@NF) is engineered in-situ on a nickel foam substrate that induces an archipelago-like amorphous-crystalline heterointerface as well as abundant oxygen vacancies (VO) on the near-surface, in favor of the electron transport and enhancing the water splitting capability respectively. Consequently, P-FCMO@NF exhibits excellent electrocatalytic performance in 1 M KOH solution. The water splitting device shows an ultra-low work voltage of merely 1.55 V at a current density of 10 mA cm-2 and demonstrates a long-term stability. The correlations between microstructural reconfiguration and sustainable electrocatalytic stability of P-FCMO@NF are deeply explored and verified. The work actually offers valuable insights that form a crucial foundation for the strategic design of innovative bifunctional electrocatalysts.

Associations between single nucleotide polymorphisms of cytokines and hepatitis B virus-related liver cirrhosis: A case-control study.

BACKGROUND AND AIMS: Various inflammatory and immune cytokines play key roles in the progression of hepatitis B virus (HBV)-related liver cirrhosis (LC). This study explored the relationship between single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in cytokines with the combined effect of polymorphisms and gender-polymorphisms interaction and LC risk. METHODS: In this study, a case-control design was used, samples were selected from 45 patients with hepatitis B-related cirrhosis and 45 age-gender-matched chronic HBV-infected patients without cirrhosis attending the tumor hospital of Wuwei Academy of Medical Sciences. Fifteen SNPs were examined using a real-time polymerase chain reaction allelic discrimination system. Logistic regression was utilized to assess cytokine-associated SNPs and the association between SNPs and LC progression in HBV-infected patients. RESULTS: The multivariate-adjusted logistic model revealed that the GG/AG dominant model (OR, 16.38; 95% CI, 1.13-236.70) and G allele (OR, 5.93; 95% CI, 0.98-36.01) of rs1800896 were associated with an increased risk of cirrhosis in CHB patients. Instead, rs2227306 CT presented a reduced cirrhosis risk (OR, 0.22; 95% CI, 0.04-1.38). Rs2055979 AA/AC was negatively associated with the risk of cirrhosis, potentially reversed in males (p = 0.021). Rs1799964 CC/CT was positively related to the risk of cirrhosis but reduced the risk of cirrhosis in males (OR, 0.13; 95% CI, 0.022-0.808; p = 0.028). Both rs1799964 TT and rs1799724 CT/TT genotype showed a synergistic effect in reducing the risk of cirrhosis with rs1800896 AA (OR, 0.08; 95% CI, 0.01-1.43 and OR, 0.12; 95% CI, 0.01-2.21). CONCLUSION: Polymorphisms rs1800896 and rs2227306 are potentially associated with the risk of cirrhosis. For the first time, the study highlights that the rs2055979 AA/AC and rs1799964 CC/CT polymorphism interact with gender and its potential reversal of cirrhosis risk in males. Furthermore, rs1800896 AA showed a synergistic effect with rs1799964 TT and rs1799724 CT/TT to prevent the progression of HBV infection to cirrhosis.

Unveiling the Activity and Mechanism Alterations by Pyrene Decoration on a Co(II) Macrocyclic Catalyst for CO2 Reduction.

Mechanistic studies involving characterization of crucial intermediates are desirable for rational optimization of molecular catalysts toward CO2 reduction, while fundamental challenges are associated with such studies. Herein we present the systematic mechanistic investigations on a pyrene-appended CoII macrocyclic catalyst in comparison with its pyrene-free prototype. The comparative results also verify the reasons of the higher catalytic activity of the pyrene-tethered catalyst in noble-metal-free CO2 photoreduction with various photosensitizers, where a remarkable apparent quantum yield of 36±3 % at 425 nm can be obtained for selective CO production. Electrochemical and spectroelectrochemical studies in conjunction with DFT calculations between the two catalysts have characterized the key CO-bound intermediates and revealed their different CO-binding behavior, demonstrating that the pyrene group endows the corresponding CoII catalyst a lower catalytic potential, a higher stability, and a greater ease in CO release, all of which contribute to its better performance.

Clinical Characteristics and Fatality Risk Factors for Patients with Listeria monocytogenes Infection: A 12-Year Hospital-Based Study in Xi'an, China.

INTRODUCTION: Listeriosis is a severe food-borne disease caused by Listeria monocytogenes infection. The data of listeriosis in Xi'an population are limited. The aim of this study is to evaluate the clinical features and fatality risk factors for listeriosis in three tertiary-care hospitals in Xi'an, China METHODS: The characteristics of demographic data, underlying diseases, clinical manifestations, laboratory indicators, cranial imaging examination, antibiotics therapeutic schemes, and clinical outcomes were collected between 2011 and 2023. Logistic regression analysis was performed. RESULTS: Seventy-one etiologically confirmed listeriosis patients were enrolled, including 12 neonatal and 59 non-neonatal cases. The majority of neonatal listeriosis presented as preterm (50%) and fetal distress (75%). The main clinical manifestations of non-neonatal listeriosis included fever (88%), headache (32%), disorder of consciousness (25%), vomiting (17%), abdominal pain (12%), and convulsions (8%). The fatality rate in neonatal cases was higher than in non-neonatal listeriosis (42 vs. 17%). Although no deaths were reported in maternal listeriosis, only two of 23 patients had an uneventful obstetrical outcome. Five maternal listeriosis delivered culture-positive neonates, three of whom decreased within 1 week post-gestation due to severe complications. Twenty-eight cases were neurolisteriosis and 43 cases were bacteremia. Neurolisteriosis had a higher fatality rate compared with bacteremia listeriosis (36 vs. 12%). The main neuroradiological images were cerebral edema/hydrocephalus, intracranial infection, and cerebral hernia. Listeria monocytogenes showed extremely low resistance to ampicillin (two isolates) and penicillin (one isolate). The fatality risk factors were the involvement of the central nervous system, hyperbilirubinemia, and hyponatremia for all enrolled subjects. Hyperuricemia contributed to the elevation of fatality risk in non-neonatal listeriosis. CONCLUSIONS: When the patients suffered with symptoms of fever and central nervous system infection, they should be alert to the possibility of listeriosis. Early administration of ampicillin- or penicillin-based therapy might be beneficial for recovery of listeriosis.

The Mouse CircGHR Regulates Proliferation, Differentiation and Apoptosis of Hepatocytes and Myoblasts.

The anterior pituitary gland of animals secretes growth hormone (GH) to bind to the growth hormone receptor (GHR) on the liver cell membrane through the blood circulation, thereby promoting the downstream gene insulin-like growth factor-1 (IGF1) expression, which is the canonical GH-GHR-IGF1 signaling pathway. Therefore, the amount of GHR and the integrity of its structure will affect animal growth and development. In the previous study, we found that the mouse GHR gene can transcribe a circular transcript named circGHR. Our group cloned the full-length of the mouse circGHR and analyzed its spatiotemporal expression profile. In this study, we further predicted the open reading frame of circGHR with bioinformatics, subsequently constructed a Flag-tagged protein vector and preliminarily verified its coding potential with western blot. Additionally, we found that circGHR could inhibit the proliferation of NCTC469 cells and has a tendency to inhibit cell apoptosis, while for C2C12 cells, it showed a tendency to inhibit cell proliferation and promote its differentiation. Overall, these results suggested that the mouse circGHR had the potential to encode proteins and affect cell proliferation, differentiation and apoptosis.

Preparation of Lignin-Based Nanoparticles with Excellent Acidic Tolerance as Stabilizer for Pickering Emulsion.

In this work, novel lignin-based nanoparticles (LßNPs) with high acidic tolerance were successfully prepared via electrostatic interaction between ß-alanine and lignin nanoparticles. The effects of the mass ratio of lignin nanoparticles to ß-alanine and pH value on the morphology and particle sizes of LßNPs were investigated with the aim of obtaining the ideal nanoparticles. The optimized LßNPs were spherical in shape with an average particle size of 41.1 ± 14.5 nm and exhibited outstanding structure stability under high acidic conditions (pH < 4). Subsequently, Pickering emulsions stabilized by LßNPs were prepared using olive oil as the oil phase. Additionally, the effects of pH value, droplet size, morphology, and storage stability on Pickering emulsions were also analyzed. The emulsions displayed excellent stability, and were stable against strongly acidic conditions (pH < 4) after 30 days of storage. The study presented a promising approach to preparing lignin-based nanoparticles with high acidic tolerance (an ideal type of stabilizer to prepare emulsions), and exhibited extremely high potential application values in the fields of drug delivery, food additives, and oily wastewater treatment.